A newly unsealed indictment charges former US Congressman Michael Myers with bribing an election judge in the state of Pennsylvania to electronically add fake votes for preferred candidates in the 2014-16 primary elections, the Justice Department said in a press release on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2020) A newly unsealed indictment charges former US Congressman Michael Myers with bribing an election judge in the state of Pennsylvania to electronically add fake votes for preferred candidates in the 2014-16 Primary elections, the Justice Department said in a press release on Thursday.
"Michael 'Ozzie' Myers, 77, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is charged with conspiring with and bribing the former Judge of Elections for the 39th Ward, 36th Division, Domenick J. Demuro," the release said.
The Justice Department pointed out that Demuro, who pleaded guilty previously in Federal court in Philadelphia, was responsible for overseeing the entire election process and all voter activities of his division in accord with federal and state election laws.
The indictment charges Myers with bribing Demuro to illegally add votes for certain candidates in primary elections, some of whom hired Meyers as a consultant and others whom Meyers favored. Meyers would then solicit payments from his clients that he used to pay Demuro, the release said.
After receiving payments ranging from between $300 to $5,000 per election, Demuro would add fraudulent votes on voting machines on Election day - a practice known as "ringing up" votes - thereby diluting the value of ballots cast by actual voters. Demuro would then certify the voting machine results were accurate, according to the release.
Myers, a Democrat who served in Congress from 1976 to 1980, is best known for his expulsion from the House of Representatives and a three-year prison sentence resulting from the Abscam bribery scandal - when FBI agents disguised as Arab sheiks were videotaped handing piles of cash to lawmakers.
